Ceremonial opening of the Berlin Center for Digital Transformation

The new Fraunhofer »Berlin Center for Digital Transformation« was ceremonially opened on March 6 in Berlin. From start-ups to midsize enterprises to large corporations, the Berlin Center for Digital Transformation offers comprehensive research and implementation expertise from one source to companies. It bundles the expertise and know-how of four Fraunhofer institutes, and constitutes another milestone for Berlin’s position as a leading digitization site.

The Berlin Center for Digital Transformation is a cooperative venture of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK), and Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM). After the founding agreement between the state of Berlin and Fraunhofer was signed in 2016, Berlin’s four Fraunhofer Institutes are now jointly commencing their work in close cooperation with regional companies and universities. Cooperation with the universities includes in particular the establishment of joint professorships, teaching events on digital networking, and the founding of the new Einstein Center for Digital Future (ECDF).

Developing and delivering practical solutions for the digital transformation takes center stage. Research is conducted on fundamental and cross-sectional technologies as well as solutions for four concrete fields of application: health care, mobility and the city of the future, industry and production, and critical infrastructures. The Berlin Center for Digital Transformation is funded by the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Senate Chancellery – Research and Technology as well as from the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF) .

The Governing Mayor of Berlin and Senate for Research and Technology Michael Müller commented: »The new Berlin Center for Digital Transformation is both: A sign of the special appeal our city has as a site for future technologies and at the same time a huge offer to our dynamic region. It is furthermore an important pillar in our digitization strategy, which also involves the Einstein Center for Digital Future, more the 60 new professorships in digitization, as well as applying for the German Internet Institute.«

»With the concept of the High-Performance Centers, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft brings universities, enterprises and non-university research institutes of one region to the table. The goal is to ensure innovation- and application-oriented excellence in key areas for the competitiveness of the German industry. One if the most pressing topics of the future is the digitization of all areas of life. It changes the way we work, enables new forms of organization, business models and value added processes. The backbone of these are highly dynamical networks, transporting data in real-time, processing and analyzing them. The experts in the Berlin Center cover the complete technological stack of digital transformation. In close cooperation with the industry, they will rapidly transfer research results into applications«, said Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, at the welcoming of the guests at the Berlin Fraunhofer Forum.

The spokesperson of the Berlin Center for Digital Transformation, Prof. Manfred Hauswirth, gave an outlook: »The digital transformation is happening. We are on our way to become Europe’s number one address for digital transformation – for medium-sized companies as well as for major corporations. Today we already develop customized solutions for all these partners to their advantage regarding innovation and competitiveness, which can be verified. The Berlin Center for Digital Transformation is a one-stop-shop for the industry, from hardware to transmission technologies to software up to production. Berlin will become the beacon of digital transformation for the successful digital networking. «

High Performance Centers are organizational structures in which university and non-university research can be conducted hand in hand with industry. They are characterized by well-defined, end-to-end roadmaps in which the partners attribute equal value to research and education, promotion of young scientists, infrastructure, innovation and knowledge transfer. The Centers invite political decision-makers to modify their priorities by proving that scientific excellence can be developed with benefits to society.

YouTube Video

A short film about the Berlin Center for Digital Transformation presented by Fraunhofer InnoVisions